0 in some societies, an amount of money or property that a woman's parents give to the man she marries -- 嫁妆，陪嫁
The suggestion put forward is that a dowry system was perhaps an essential part of such alliances.
Yet, with dowry demands continuously increasing, it is doubtful whether a marriage to a more prosperous house was always possible.
Three, even moveable dowry is seldom considered entirely the woman's own, and is rarely in her exclusive control.
The elderly villagers explain the onset of excessive dowry demands as caused by people becoming wealthier and wanting to secure better houses for their daughters.
Many of the details of dowry transactions are very similar, including the insistence on the wife's continued ownership, whatever the management arrangements may be.
Here, it was not so much a case of balancing dowries as of further strengthening ties between families.
A detailed examination of dowries provides clues as to the property owned by newlyweds and how co-operation between the generations operated in practice.
Although formally the dowry remained in the complete control of wives, husbands apparently relied on these dowries as available credit.
